Need A Good Divorce Attorney in Utah?
We Provide Affordable, Compassionate, Divorce Attorney Services.
“We’re Dedicated to Helping Remove the Fear Associated with Getting Divorced, by Protecting Your Finances and Maximizing the Time with Your Kids.”
Marco Brown
Managing Partner
Brown Family Law
Call Us For A Divorce Consultation: 801-685-9999
Call Us For A Divorce Consultation: 801-685-9999
Divorce Attorney Utah
We are divorce and child custody attorneys in Salt Lake City, and our law office serves clients throughout the entire state of Utah. Our team of family law attorneys are committed to providing outstanding service with legal matters involving all aspects of family law.
When you need a family law firm that you can trust, we hope you will choose us to help guide you through your situation.

Call us 24/7 at 801-685-9999 or click here to schedule a time for your legal consultation.
We are here to help you get on with your life!
How We’re Different From Other Utah Family Law Firms
Since 2010, we’ve helped thousands of local families with our time-tested, proven process for guiding people through divorce and child custody matters.
Choosing us to represent you will help to eliminate as much of the stress, strife and other collateral damage that may occur to your family by working with other, less experienced law firms.
- Peace of Mind: We remove the uncertainty and fear associated with divorce by providing professional, compassionate and affordable family law services.
- Collaboration and Education: You don’t want an attorney to bark orders at you and not explain what’s going on. Count on us to guide and educate you through the uncertainty and confusion of the legal process. This helps to remove your fear and helps empower you.
- Constant Communication: Communication between clients and attorneys leads to the best results in divorce. Our proven system is designed to maximize client communication and lead to the ideal results our clients are looking for.
“Our goal is to remove the fear associated with divorce and custody issues – and protect you by helping to maximize your time with your kids and your money, all within 3-6 months.” – Marco Brown
How We’re Different From Other Utah Family Law Firms
Since 2010, we’ve helped thousands of local families with our time-tested, proven process for guiding people through divorce and child custody matters.
Choosing us to represent you will help to eliminate as much of the stress, strife and other collateral damage that may occur to your family by working with other, less experienced law firms.
- Peace of Mind: We remove the uncertainty and fear associated with divorce by providing professional, compassionate and affordable family law services.
- Collaboration and Education: You don’t want an attorney to bark orders at you and not explain what’s going on. Count on us to guide and educate you through the uncertainty and confusion of the legal process. This helps to remove your fear and helps empower you.
- Constant Communication: Communication between clients and attorneys leads to the best results in divorce. Our proven system is designed to maximize client communication and lead to the ideal results our clients are looking for.
“Our goal is to remove the fear associated with divorce and custody issues – and protect you by helping to maximize your time with your kids and your money, all within 3-6 months.” – Marco Brown
Shepherding You Through the Challenge of When the Law Meets a Broken Marriage

No one enters into a marriage thinking it will end in divorce, but unfortunately, divorce happens. If you’re having marital problems and are faced with the reality of a broken marriage, you will need to make some very difficult decisions. One of those decisions may be whether or not to seek legal counsel for a divorce.
Seeking legal representation is not always necessary, but because divorce is a legal-matter, there are some key legal aspects that you should be aware of.
There are specific laws that will govern how your divorce is handled in the state of Utah. Experienced divorce attorneys will be familiar with those laws and rules, as well as the judges and commissioners who interpret those laws and rules, and can help you navigate the divorce process.
No one enters into a marriage thinking it will end in divorce, but unfortunately, divorce happens. If you’re having marital problems and are faced with the reality of a broken marriage, you will need to make some very difficult decisions. One of those decisions may be whether or not to seek legal counsel for a divorce.
Seeking legal representation is not always necessary, but because divorce is a legal-matter, there are some key legal aspects that you should be aware of.
There are specific laws that will govern how your divorce is handled in the state of Utah. Experienced divorce attorneys will be familiar with those laws and rules, as well as the judges and commissioners who interpret those laws and rules, and can help you navigate the divorce process.
There are a few different ways to get divorced in Utah. The most common way is to file a divorce petition with the court. In order to do this, one of the spouses must have been a resident of Utah for at least three months. The divorce petition will state the grounds for divorce and ask the court to dissolve the marriage.
If both spouses agree on all of the terms of the divorce, they may be able to complete it without going to court. This is called an uncontested divorce. An attorney can provide the legal assistance to file the necessary paperwork and make sure that everything is done correctly.
If there are disagreements about some of the terms of the divorce, the divorce will be considered contested. In a contested divorce, the spouses will have to go to court and argue their case in front of a commissioner or judge. This can be a long and expensive process, and it is almost always best to seek legal representation if things start to get contentious.
If your legal team knows what they are doing, the first thing they will do is help you understand the laws and legal issues that will govern your divorce. Your lawyer will also help you negotiate any disputes with your spouse and advise you on the best way to resolve your case so you obtain the goals you’re looking for. If litigation is necessary, an attorney will represent you in court and make sure that your interests are protected.
We’ve Created a Free Guide Called the Utah Divorce FAQs.
This free guide will help to educate you about divorce in Utah, help you navigate the legal matters, and help you make the best decisions for yourself and your family.
This free guide will help to educate you about divorce in Utah, help you navigate the legal matters, and help you make the best decisions for yourself and your family.
Divorce Attorneys Utah
Our Proven-Process For Helping You Through A Divorce in Utah
Divorce Attorneys Utah
Our Proven-Process For Helping You Through A Divorce in Utah
Call us 24/7 at 801-685-9999 or click here to schedule a time for your legal consultation.
We are here to help you get on with your life!
Types of Divorce We Can Help You With
Our family law firm is devoted completely to divorce and family law matters. Here are some of the kinds of divorce cases we provide legal assistance for.
In some situations, one spouse may be at fault for the breakdown of a relationship. At-fault divorce is how divorce attorneys and judges refer to any divorce where one or both partners have engaged in certain behaviors (e.g., adultery, abuse, abandonment) that cause divorce.
We’ve been helping people in Utah with divorce and family law since 2010, and in that time we’ve helped over 4000 people. What this means for you is that we’ve helped many people going through exactly what you’re going through, so we understand how to help you with your situation.
- Divorce, including uncontested divorce and military divorce
- Child custody and visitation issues
- Child support and spousal support
- Mediation for divorce, child custody, and guardianship
We’re here to answer all your questions, allay your fears and provide you with the best options for your individual situation.
Call us 24/7 at 801-685-9999 or click here to schedule a time for your legal consultation.
We are here to help you get on with your life!
Common Questions About Getting a Divorce in Utah
Hiring an attorney, whether in Salt Lake City or elsewhere in Utah, is not absolutely necessary. However, due to the complicated nature of Utah law and court system, it is often difficult for separating couples without legal experience or training in law to navigate the separation process without some degree of legal assistance.
Even for an uncontested divorce, it is advisable to retain a trial attorney for basic representation and assistance with legal documents, such as divorce forms, temporary orders, findings of fact and conclusions of law, and final decrees. Practicing law without an attorney, which is what you’re doing if you do your own divorce, poses a lot of potential pitfalls.
When it comes to spousal support, incomes are not divided equally. The calculation to determine alimony is complicated and very fact dependent, and you should meet with an attorney to discuss what you may pay to, or receive from, your ex spouse.
Familiarity with the process and how to facilitate an out of court settlement are some of the advantages of using an attorney to help you through Utah court proceedings.
Utah is a no-fault state. No-fault means neither party needs to be responsible for misconduct that caused the breakdown of the marriage.
The most common grounds for divorce cited in Utah a divorce petition are:
- Irreconcilable differences
- Domestic violence
- Adultery/infidelity
- Abandonment

Common Questions About Child Custody Issues in Utah

- The parent likely to receive the most custody and parent-time with children is the one who has been the minor children’s primary caregiver. The primary caregiver is the one who spends the most time with the children, takes the children to medical appointments, attends teacher-parent conferences, puts the children to bed, drives them to school, takes them to extracurricular activities, etc.
- The bottom line is this: the more involved you are in your kids’ lives, the more likely you are to receive joint custody, whether you have a contested or uncontested divorce.
- Now, there are other factors, besides who is the primary parent, that sway a judge in determining custody when it comes time to sign a final decree. For example:
- How bonded you are to your kids.
- Your mental and physical capability to provide care for your kids.
- Your history of drug or alcohol abuse.
- How stable your living situation is.
- Whether you can maintain a steady job and pay child support.
- How much you encourage your kids to have a good relationship with your ex.
What we’ve discussed above relates to your final custody order in divorce proceedings. There are situations in which you may need to go to court and obtain temporary orders regarding custody and parent-time. When deciding temporary orders, courts value maintaining the status quo, which is how you’ve been sharing custody and visitation up to now.
Keep this advice in mind: fight for the custody and parent-time you want right upfront. It’s much harder to change custody after your judge has signed the divorce documents.
- Joint Legal Custody: Legal custody refers to who gets to make big decisions for a couple’s children. Big decisions like: religion, medical decisions, money, education, extracurriculars. Joint custody means exes, whether separated or part of paternity actions, need to work together and come to an agreement on these big decisions.
- Sole Legal Custody: Legal custody refers to who gets to make big decisions for a couple’s children. Big decisions like: religion, medical decisions, money, education, extracurriculars. Sole legal custody means one parent has been court ordered the authority to make decisions about children without any obligation to talk to the other parent.
- Joint Physical Custody: Physical custody refers to where a child spends time, specifically where a child sleeps. Joint physical custody means each parent has a child at least 30% of the overnights in a year. 50/50 custody arrangements are joint physical custody. When joint physical custody is ordered in the final decree, it’s very difficult for one parent to move out of Utah and take a child with them.
- Primary Physical Custody: Physical custody refers to where a child spends time, specifically where a child sleeps. Primary physical custody means a child spends less than 30% of overnights with one parent. For example, if a child stays overnight with one parent only 100 times per year, then the other parent has primary physical custody. When parents live far apart, or if one parent lives out of state, then one parent will almost always be awarded primary physical custody.
- Split Custody: Split custody refers to when parents have more than one child, and one parent has primary physical custody of one of the children, and the other parent has primary physical custody of the other child.
- Who is the primary parent? In other words: who has taken care of the child the most? The primary parent will often have more time with the children after finalization of custody.
- Has there been domestic violence against a spouse/parent or child? The perpetrator of domestic violence will very often end up with far less custody and enjoy fewer parental rights.
- Does a parent’s work schedule allow that parent to be with the kids? If a parent has a crazy work schedule (e.g. overnights, lots of extended travel), that might make it almost impossible to spend much time with the kids.
- Has a parent gone through the adoption process? If someone has not legally adopted a child, that parent very likely has no legal right to custody or parent-time.
- Has a parent refused to pay child support? If a parent refuses to pay child support, then it’s really difficult for that parent to successfully argue for much parent-time.
- Is one parent addicted to drugs or alcohol? If one parent is addicted to drugs or alcohol, or has a serious history of drug or alcohol addiction, then that parent may pose a significant safety risk to the child.
- How close do the parents live? The farther away parents live from each other, the less evenly they can share time with their kids.

Call us 24/7 at 801-685-9999 or click here to schedule a time for your legal consultation.
We are here to help you get on with your life!
Family Law Attorney

Before I came to Utah and won divorce attorney of the year, I grew up in a small village in Alaska called Cold Bay. My grandmother was an educator and professor. Because of her example, I always knew he would get a Ph.D. or professional degree, like a JD or an MBA. Being a lawyer fit my personality and my desire to help people, so I decided to go to law school where I graduated with distinction.
After law school, I worked at a law firm doing personal injury work. I defended insurance companies in car accident cases, worker compensation cases, slip-and-fall cases, etc. It was a terrible experience, and I only worked there for eighteen months before I left and moved to Utah in 2010 so my wife could pursue her doctorate in vocal performance.
2010 was not a good year for attorneys. Large firms of all kinds were shutting down because of the Great Recession. It was in this environment that I decided to open up my own law firm. In the beginning, I did everything: criminal defense, personal injury, family law, business litigation.
I also took cases all over the state: Utah County, Salt Lake, Vernal, St. George, Moab, Logan. I did anything and everything, everywhere. It was a classic mistake attorneys make, being a jack of all trades and master of none. Quickly, though, I realized my calling was to help families with divorce and child custody cases, so I stopped doing everything else and focused on family law cases.
Leaving criminal defense and personal injury and focusing exclusively on divorce was the best decision I have ever made. Now my legal team and I have one of the most comprehensive systems in the U.S. for helping our clients through the divorce process.
While this website provides general information, it does not constitute divorce advice. The best way to get guidance on your specific divorce issue is to contact a lawyer. To schedule a divorce consultation with an experienced family law attorney in Salt Lake City, please call or complete the intake form above.
The use of the internet (or this form) for communication with our law firm (or any individual member of the firm) does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent to our law offices through this form.